Geelong is focussing on making a fast start in Sunday’s clash with Collingwood at the MCG.

The Magpies stunned the Cats in round nine last season, booting the first seven goals of the game to snare a 44-point lead at quarter-time.

Chris Scott’s men fought back strongly from there but ended up falling 24 points short.

Much-improved midfielder George Horlin-Smith is adamant that the Cats won’t be caught off guard again.

“Regardless of who we’re playing, we really want to start the game well,” Horlin-Smith said at a press conference at Simonds Stadium on Wednesday morning.

“We’ll be looking to do things during training that will help us start well in the first 10 minutes.

“We’ve got a couple of sessions this week where we can try those things, and hopefully they come out on the weekend.”

Horlin-Smith is well aware that controlling the midfield will be vital against a Collingwood team that has plenty of talent in the middle of the ground.

“They’re a really good side,” he said.

“They’ve got some champion players and we’ll have to put some time into making sure that they don’t influence the game early so that we can start well.